The end of week three and clearly I have had some great weight loss results but to be honest I’m feeling a bit disillusioned with the challenge.

It’s not nearly as intense as I was expecting and the challenges don’t really seem that hard.

I don’t want to drop out but it seems a bit redundant at the moment. I guess I’ll stick it out for another week and see what turns up.

Week 3 Day 7

About to start week 4, and week 3 finished with another 200gm loss making my total loss 32.3kgs and a total loss of 5.2kgs for the month.

Daily Challenge

Big challenge today. Get a piece of paper and fold it in half. On one side right your top 3 excuses you find yourself making. On the other side, write 3 reasons why those excuses are invalid. Take a picture and post. =]

I am absolutely struggling with this challenge. I can’t think of any excuses I am making that might be stopping me from getting to my goal. I’m eating within my calorie and lifestyle limits everyday, and within my macro limits most days. I’m not drinking or bingeing.

I can’t even think of one excuse let alone three!

Week 3 Day 6

Today started with a 200gm loss, taking my total is 32.1kgs.

Intake today was a bit different as Hartleigh’s school had a fund raising event – International Lunch. Parents cook meals from their home country, their ancestry, or just a random country. I chose my quick & easy go to ‘Eton Mess’ a British dish as Hartleigh’s dad was born there. Not at all clean, but it wasn’t for me anyway. I did actually find some food I could eat and had some Vietnamese Spring Rolls that were packed full of veges. Yum!

The rest of the day was pretty standard, although my carbohydrate macros are over by 3gms.

Daily Challenge

I hope you all haven’t been forgetting to drink water. Check in at the end of the day and let us know how much you drank.

In keeping with this weeks theme/focus of veggies, let me see those plates! With your vegetables on them of course.

I have not had one single vegetable today! Must try and get some in tomorrow. Today was another crazy flat-out day and I finished work late.

Seems a bit monotonous at the moment, just working hard both at work and on my diet!

Week 3 Day 4

Static weight this morning. Just super excited anyway because I’ve had my hair cut and coloured and I feel like a completely new person! So nice to have the professionals do it and really happy with how it looks!

Daily Challenge

Post your favorite (or something new you’d like to try) vegetable recipe. It can be a link or your own picture, simple or a little effort required, whatever suits you.

Mine would definitely be the Aubergine and Mozzarella Bake. Unfortunately the mozzarella make’s it super expensive calorie wise, so to lighten it up you could swap some of that out with ricotta and bake the aubergine rather than fry it. [Low calorie options indicated below] I’ve also indicated how to make it cleaner too.

Aubergine and Mozzarella Bake

IngredientsTwo medium aubergines
Onion
Garlic [clean option freshly crushed]
Tin of tomatoes [clean option 100% tomatoes with no preservatives or added sodium. Super clean is to buy tomatoes and use]
Tomato paste [clean option make your own from scratch]
Mozzarella [low calorie version use a combination of mozzarella and ricotta]

AubergineSlice aubergine lengthways about 1cm thick
Sprinkle with salt and leave 30 minutes
Rinse and pat dry
Fry in oil until brown and tender [low calorie version brush with oil and bake in oven]
Drain on kitchen towel

SauceFry onion
Add garlic, tomatoes, and tomato paste

CheeseSlice or grate mozzarella

The BakePut one third or half sauce in dish
Put one third or half aubergine in dish
Put one third or half cheese in dish

Yay another 200gm loss this morning which ticks off two more milestones. 70lbs lost, and 95% of the way to goal weight! #happycamper

Daily Challenge

It’s your guys’ (sic) turn! Since we are all here for different reasons/goals, post a challenge below that you either have liked/or would like to see.

I answered “Definitely nothing to do with exercise/fitness for me. I’m here for the clean eating. Losing weight is 90% what goes in your mouth. I’d like a diary analysis with suggestions of different/cleaner food options.”

As far as I am concerned the 8 week challenge is all about cleaning up my eating, and there were plenty of replies about fitness challenges, workouts etc. Not what I joined the group for so even if it becomes a challenge I won’t be doing it. The focus is meant to be ‘clean eating’ and so far that hasn’t been that much so to bring in something completely off-topic is not what I joined the group for.

More to come…

Week 3 Day 2

Yay, a 200gm loss to take me under 2kgs to goal. Really happy to see that scale tick down again.

Daily Challenge

What is the most important part of the nutrition label on a food item to you?

I answered Calories because right now that is the most important factor when choosing whether to buy something. Next is how clean it is, but to be honest, I’m not looking at items that I think might be unclean anyway unless it’s to compare items.

Intake was the usual protein shake, yoghurt & berries, chia pudding, and I had a boiled egg. Not enough to be honest, but my day was so busy I didn’t eat between lunch at about 12.45 and dinner at about 7.15pm 😦

Week 3 Day 1

It’s a sunny Sunday to kick off week three. Weight has been static for about 4 days. Hoping my body has caught up with itself now and tomorrow it shows another loss. 2.1kgs and 13 weigh-ins until Ladies Day. It’s totally achievable but only if my weight starts moving again.

Daily Challenge

To do our stats, again. As per last week I’ve decided not to measure until I reach my goal and start working out. and I’ll continue weighing-in each day.

As for the 8 week challenge, so far it’s pretty tame. I thought it was going to be tougher than it is, however if I was starting where I was in December I might be finding it a little harder. I’m guessing that it will become a little more challenging as we go through.

So far I’m pretty happy, I think most of my results are from not drinking, and being really strict on what goes IN.

Have really been working on my macros the last few days. I think they probably need tweaking a bit, but just feeling like I have way more control.

Week 2 Day 7

Saturday and another static weigh in. Not at all concerned. Can’t believe I’m half way through my no drinking. Didn’t even think about it last night (Friday), but there is rugby on tonight and tomorrow.

Daily Challenge

TGIF! What’s your favorite cheat meal/snack? Do you have a cleaner version recipe? Mine is pizza!! I seriously LOVE me some pizza, so I’m making the bread loaf pizzas tonight from the meal plan

The time zone difference sometimes does my head in! It’s, of course, Saturday in new Zealand and here’s my reply.

I don’t do cheat meals but my favourite snack used to be potato chips and dip.

I’m not entirely sure I am ready to give up potato chips forever, and dip is easy to make clean, but they definitely aren’t as enjoyable as they used to be. So salty. I guess I’ll have a few times where I slip and eat them, then feel unwell, and eventually they just won’t have the same memory for me.

Week 2 Day 6

Static weight today, to be expected given the losses since the beginning of the month.

Daily Challenge

Since most of us are at work for lunch, it is an area we tend to struggle in. Especially with all of the unhealthy choices coming in the office or the temptation to just grab a bite to eat at the drive through. So, I want to see your lunches today =] Post your picture as a comment or wall post.

Ok ladies, it’s Wednesday. The middle of my first week back at work after 4 months off, and to be quite honest, I’m in the need of some encouraging words. I’ve noticed some others feeling the same way as well. So, post below your favorite quote, passage, saying, etc. that you turn to when you need some motivational and/or encouragement.

Well, of course, it’s Thursday here, but here’s my motivational pic.

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Week 2 Day 4

Weigh In Wednesday and it produced another great result! 400gms down which landed me smack bang on ‘normal’ BMI. Man have I been wanting that number since ‘forever’.

Stoked beyond belief to be honest.

Daily Challenge

Last week’s focus was water, this week’s focus is 5-6 small meals…. Lets add them together. At the end of the day post how much water you drank and how many times you ate. Have a great day!!

Water isn’t too much of a problem, I might be down 500mls on the odd day, but mostly meeting my 2.5 litre daily requirement.

Small too aren’t a hassle, my MFP is set up for 5 meals, and I usually just add my supper onto dinner. Supper is usually that protein just before bed. Although I have been skipping morning a bit as my smoothie just fills me up so much.

Have decided I ‘really dislike’ the Just Natural pea protein powder and so I’m going to buy another container of the rich chocolate and mix the two in my smoothies and puddings. I want to like it, but I just don’t (at the moment) and whilst I am happy to forgo lots of food I would dearly love to eat, what I do eat I need to enjoy otherwise what is the point.

Yesterday I had a meeting AT A PUB and didn’t drink anything, no free drinkies for Sonya. Tonight I have another function with free drinks, again I’m going to say NO! Hard, but necessary!

Kicked off the day will another little loss of 200gms, feeling so good about how close I am go my next goal.

Daily Challenge

Monday Motivation. Post a picture, sentence, collage or whatever that keeps you motivated through tough times and Mondays.

Of course, it’s Tuesday here and I posted my Motivation Monday post yesterday but this challenge as elicited mostly personal reasons for losing weight, such as for their kids, or husbands, etc. As a parent for me it goes without saying that pretty much everything I do is for my son. Sure I take time out for socialising, I spend money on myself, as well as him, but this weight loss is utterly and entirely about me, but in saying that what I do for myself ultimately impacts on Hartleigh anyway. Therefore whilst he indirectly benefits from this weight loss ultimately I do it for me. I do it for the satisfaction of achieving my goals, I do it to look better in my clothes, I do it to ‘not to be the fat girl’, I do it because I look and feel better, I do it for the attention, I do it for the control. I do it because it’s the right thing to do.

Menu Today

I started my new ‘Just Natural’ pea protein powder today and it’s gross 😦 It’s too plain to go from the rich chocolate to the natural in one hit so I’m going to have to buy another tub of the rich chocolate and make up some half and half but for now I will persevere. so the day started with a smoothie.

Lunch was yoghurt and berries and afternoon tea was tuna.

I had a meeting 4.30pm and there was a platter of delicious food but there were also plain mussels so I had a few of them.

Dinner was an egg, feta and tomato omelette, unfortunately it tasted like the dish-washing liquid I use and was yuck!

Supper is going to be a WW natural yoghurt with ‘something’, not sure what yet, probably some fruit.

Today was a challenge in terms of drinking, because my meeting was at a bar and I was the only person who wasn’t drinking, additionally I had a mega busy day and really just felt like a glass of wine to finish it off but the results I am seeing on the scale are too much for me to risk when I’m so close to goal!

Week 2 Day 2

Daily Challenge

No challenge today because it’s Sunday in the States, not that that should matter but oh well, Monday here.

Weekly Focus 2

Each week’s rules are cumulative, so the “no junk” rule from Week 1 will apply until the end, as will each subsequent week’s rule.

Eat small, eat often. Eat every couple of hours while you’re awake and try not to eat anything for about three hours before you go to sleep. Following these rules will keep your blood sugar levels more static and your energy level will stay consistent. Try to keep each snack or meal balanced, something like a 30% protein, 40% carbohydrate, and 30% fat ratio. The three-hours-before-bed rule is important, especially for fats and carbohydrates. By allowing time for all the carbs you eat to get into your bloodstream, your body will sleep in fat-burning mode, rather than in calorie-storing mode. This is important because undigested carbs in your stomach at night are stored as adipose tissue (fat).

Cheat Meals:2 Weekly focus: Carbs are not the enemy. Your body needs them, just like it needs proteins and fats. The trick is to choose the right carbs. As a society, we eat too much refined sugar. Complex carbs, like whole-grain breads, whole-grain rice, sweet potatoes, and legumes are outstanding foods. Even fruits, which have simple carbohydrates wrapped in fiber, are exceptionally healthy. While you don’t want a diet based on nothing but carbs, making the right carb choices will maximize your body’s potential. Try to avoid white rice and flours. Read labels, and try to avoid ones that use the word “enriched,” because this means these products have been stripped of their natural nutrients, overprocessed, and then fortified with a few random nutrients.

Eat small, eat often is pretty much what I do, as much as I can within my daily routine. If I don’t it’s because of other commitments. As for the eating before bed thing, I’m also already doing this, although as you may know I do have protein before bed, and sometimes in bed. It works for me.

The cheat meals were also mentioned last week but I didn’t post them because I thought it was a one off. I don’t actually believe in cheat meals, especially when it comes to something like a limited time challenge where we were meant to be committed to making changes to our lifestyle so I definitely won’t be doing them. In terms of the carbs, as per my list on day one I don’t eat any of the ones Mandy has suggested to avoid, along with some of the things she does suggest such as rice and potatoes, so this weekly focus is going to be pretty easy to adhere to.

Meals today are pretty much, as per, except the nightmare Salmon! I forgot why I wasn’t eating it and didn’t add the calories until ‘after’ I had eaten all 415 of them! Ouchy. Then to top my day off I thought I’d swap out my almond milk with some rice milk for the a change, again didn’t check the calories until after and the rice milk is 3 x as much as the almond! About 100 calories over today. Bugger!

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I think this saying is fantastic. Going to save it onto my desktop!

Week 2 Day 1

It’s Sunday again, the first week went very quickly, but then so has this whole year. Another loss (400gms) and I can only put it down to the no alcohol. Not much else has changed really. I’m still eating pretty much what I was before I started the challenge, I’m still not doing exercise, and drinking a little more water, but not enough to account for these losses.

Daily Challenge

To do our stats. I’ve decided not to measure until I reach my goal and start working out, and as I weigh everyday, rather than the once a week Mandy recommends, my weight loss stats are recorded each time. I have always weighed every day and don’t intend to stop at this point.

Intake today is going to be pretty standard

– Protein shake with prunes, it was fine, but I think I’d rather have them in my salad where I can taste them since I love them so much

– Chia pudding

– My Full Noise Salad

For dinner I’m going to have a clean pancakes since I haven’t had them for ages.

Have been going over some of my macros and I think that’s something I need to work on. Mostly fats because of the avocados in the salad, but also sugar and today carbs as well. Whilst I am staying within my calories I either need to adjust my macros or figure out what foods keep putting me over, with the exception of the avocado as that’s a bit of a treat. Need to try and limit them to half of one per day that I have them, and not include feta cheese into to the same salad. In fact once the last 30gms or so of Feta is gone, I think I’m going to try and go cheese-free for the rest of the challenge unless I can find one that has way lower calories (oxymoron).

Two days where ‘hunger control’ slipped but have stayed under calories every day

Discovered a love for Chia Pudding

Broke my blender and bought a new one

My thoughts:

So far nothing has been too much of a stretch. All ‘challenges’ have been well within my comfort zone. Looking forward to what Mandy has in store for us next week. There’s a new menu planner out, haven’t had a good look at it yet but keen to try a new recipe this week, given that I enjoyed the Smoked Fish Pie last week, albeit that that recipe was from a healthy eating magazine.

The weight loss is also a bit of magic trick, because most of that was from my binge at the end of last month. Real loss is probably less than 2kgs, but even then that’s awesome! If I have similar losses in the next two weeks I’ll be at goal weight for Ladies Day.

Week one has mostly been the same as I have been doing, but I’m doing more research about what is and isn’t considered clean. My biggest challenge is not drinking, and most of that is habit rather ‘want’ or even ‘need’.

21 days to break a habit, lets see how week two goes!

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Week 1 Day 6

TGIF! A loss of 300gms means I have now reached my 30kgs lost goal. So very, very happy. It’s a big milestone that has taken a bit longer to get to than I would have liked, but sometimes the harder the effort the bigger the rewards.

Off for a bit of shopping today! Going to treat myself to a new handbag. Why not!

Daily Challenge

Snap a picture of ONE of your meals today and either post it below or on the wall!

I took a pic of the ingredients I use in my smoothie – but not actually a pic of the smoothie!

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Morning Tea

Banana and yoghurt

Afternoon Tea

Chickpea, cucumber, tomato & feta salad

Dinner

As afternoon tea was so damn delicious I decided to use the same base and add a few extras to it.

Although I am well within my calories, I had dinner quote late for me, and a bit concerned it won’t have enough time to digest before I get into bed. Might have to have some peppermint tea.

Day six has been a good day!

Week 1 Day 5

Day 5, nearly through the first week, and another loss of 200gms. So excited for my weigh in tomorrow, really hoping it will be my next goal!

Daily Challenge

Well, today is more of a question rather than a challenge…. How many of you took the “before” pictures I recommended in my post on STAT-urday? I ask because if at the end of this challenge you are happy with your results and allow me to use your story along with your honest testimony to the challenge on my blog/website, I will put your name in a drawing to randomly select the grand prize (worth $130). If you didn’t take the picture, it’s not too late you can take it today and it will still count. Post your answers below. P.S. There will be a few other prizes as well, but not as much as this one – All of this comes out of my own pocket =]

I only weighed and did not take pics or measurements. Thinking about whether to take some in the next couple of days but may wait until I get to goal as I think that’s when I’m going to see the biggest changes, once I start exercising.

As for food, it’s pretty much ground hog day

Breakfast

Smoothie

Morning Tea

Blueberries and yoghurt

Lunch

Salmon cup

Afternoon Tea

Chia pudding and snow pea sprouts (not together lol)

Dinner

Smoked Fish Pie

Voila!

I know it’s a bit repetitive but it’s also easy, and quick. I’ll set something new up for next week but won’t mess too much with my winning formula! I did have a coffee this morning as I wanted to test a theory, the theory worked but I’m not sharing lol

Ran out of time to go get a blender, again. Hopefully tomorrow. In the meantime the stick is working adequately but not fabulously!

So close to 30, I really hope it’s tomorrow and I can celebrate!

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Are you forming new habits? Are they Good?

Week 1 Day 4

And another loss! (300gms) – Just 100gms more and I’ll be back to where I was last Wednesday, which was my lowest weight.

Today’s Daily Challenge

Record your water! At the end of the day comment below with how much you drank.

This shouldn’t be too hard as I already use Plant Nanny to track my water and I’ve been pretty good with keeping up with the reminders. Based on my current weight I should drink about 2.5 litres of water a day. I usually have two of my pink Tupperware containers in the morning (spiked with lemon juice), it’s just under 500mls so that’s 1 litre before I leave the house, this morning I’m also having a peppermint tea because I’m missing my ‘morning coffee ritual’ and if I count that it’s another 300mls. I have another water bottle at work which is 1 litre so my plan today is fill it up when I get there and make sure it’s empty when I leave. Then everything else on top of that is a bonus.

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What’s on the menu today?

Breakfast
Usual protein smoothie

Morning tea
Banana and yoghurt

LunchI went to a restaurant for lunch today. I asked them to customise a salad for me. I had cos, pears, and walnuts. Salad ususally uses rocket, which I don’t like, also usually ahs parmesan and a vinaigrette dressing

Dinner
Having prepped all my Smoked Fish Pie ingredients last night, tonight was the putting together, cooking, and eating. I modified the recipe and this is what I made

200-300gms smoked fish (I used red cod as it was the lowest in calories but it was a bit salty – will probably combine two fish next time)
1 hardboiled egg
1/2 cup fresh parsley – I used 1/2 cup parsley and 1/2 cup of pea sprouts
I replaced the breadcrumbs with 25gms crushed chickpeas

In a pot combine the sauce ingredients, bring to boil and stir until it thickens. I personally didn’t think mine thickened very much but it may have been the cleaner ingredients

Add to the casserole dish, sprinkle the chickpeas over the top

Bake for about 30 mins in a preheated 180 oven

This is enough for two meals and is 209 calories per serving.

I’ll post a picture tomorrow when I have the other half – forgot to do it tonight (was a bit hungry lol).

No headache today, yay – and despite going out for lunch was not tempted to order wine, or a coffee, and felt I dealt with eating out really wellWeek 1 Day 3

Day three started with another loss (1kg), another happy dance.

We’ve received our first instructions today, known as ‘Weekly Focus’

Week 1 Focus

No junk. Eliminate junk food from your diet. That’s it, just junk. Other than this, you can eat whatever and whenever you like. The definition of junk is obvious stuff, like potato chips, candy, ice cream, cake, etc. You may be stricter if you’d like, but for Week 1, don’t be too hard on yourself. Just stay out of the 7-Eleven. For many of you, this step alone will reap huge benefits.

Pretty easy for me since I haven’t eaten this stuff, except the odd drunken episode, for most of this year.

Apparently we will also have a challenge everyday, and today’s Daily Challenge is

Go through your pantry, fridge, freezer, or wherever you hide your stash and pick your most NON clean food/temptation and throw it out. Take a pic of it and post it on the wall.

I pretty much already had a clean fridge and cupboard, but did know there were a few last sauces lingering, mostly because I don’t use them. So here’s my rather small collection of unclean items left in my house.

I reduced the chia seeds this morning and although the smoothie is still thick, it much more drinkable today, rather than yesterday when I had to use a spoon to get the last of it out of the glass.

Morning tea

Blueberries and yoghurt

Lunch

Salmon cup

(actually ate morning and lunch together as I was out at 10)

No afternoon tea – left work around 3pm, went and did some jobs, didn’t get home until after 5.30

Dinner

Postponed the fish pie due to getting home too late

Mushroom stack

Portobello mushroom, tomatoes, egg, & feta cheese

Supper

Chia pudding (love these now!)

Did have a small headache and felt a bit blah this afternoon but that may be the lack of afternoon tea.

Week 1 Day 2

Day two kicked off with a nice little loss (1.2kgs), albeit mostly just the crap I ate in the last few days of August.

Breakfast Smoothie

Pea protein, almond milk, ground flaxseed, cinnamon, & chia seeds

The chia seeds really made the smoothie thick, it was almost pudding like. Probably a big heavy for first thing in the morning and I only used 5 grams. Feel like I’ll be full for hours, and really want to drink lots of water to try and thin it out. Definitely a learning curve as I tried to make chia pudding last night and it didn’t work. The chia definitely helps fill you up.

Morning tea

Blueberries & yoghurt

Lunch

Salmon egg cup

Dinner

Omelette with tomatoes and feta cheese

Supper

Smoothie

Day two of no caffeine and no alcohol, feeling a bit blah. Might just be a stressy afternoon, and will be having an early night.

Staying clean has been easy, and I bought some more containers to mix up my morning smoothie dry ingredients so I can just drop it in the blender in the morning. Saves lots of time. Also going to set up my lunches for the week, with berries, and yoghurt, plus either some chia seeds or ground flaxseed (not both in each).

Tomorrow night I am going to try a smoked fish pie recipe, will post it up tomorrow, hopefully along with a great picture.

So here we go, Day 1 of the 8 week clean eating challenge. So far we haven’t had too much information about what we should and shouldn’t be eating, but have had dinner meal planners. with dishes like Florentine Lasagne Rolls, Barbecued Chicken, Tangy Chilli-Garlic Pork Chops. Not sure what to make of them at this stage, probably won’t make any of them from this first lot.

I have weighed in, and I have to be honest, it wasn’t pretty. I’ve done some damage over the past few days and really keen to get back into it. Preparation is going to be key to making a success of this. I’m going to prep all my breakfasts and lunches today to make it quick and easy in the mornings. I also have quite a bit of salmon left from the kebabs I had last night so going to make some salmon egg cups for dinner. Haven’t figured out afternoon tea yet, and I know I need to eat around 3pm to control those hunger pangs and not have a blow out at dinner.

Here’s my list of what I am and aren’t eating – some not only for the next 8 weeks but ongoing

Have pledged to go alcohol free for the first 4 weeks (will have some bubbles on the 28th to celebrate my Ladies Day event)

No instant coffee

No pork, it’s one of the hardest foods for our bodies to digest and basically rots in your stomach, yuck! This is almost as hard to do as not drinking, roast pork is one of my favourite meals but the clean eating lifestyle is about eating food that is good for you, pork just isn’t.

No pasta – it’s not super nutritional and I can use those calories to eat something much better for me

No Pita Pit 😦

No cows milk – only have it in my coffee anyway and with no coffee no need for cows milk

Starting on the first of September I am going to participate in an eight week Clean Eating Challenge.

This is the outline of the challenge so far

The Details:

The commitment is 8 weeks of the Challenge Group accountability page on Facebook. We will have a new focus and a new challenge each week. These will build on each other and ultimately lead to a 100% clean diet. The focus will be learning how to eat clean, but with baby steps. There are rules and you will be removed from the group for non-participation. I am a tough love sort of supporter and this group is completely FREE to join so I have high expectations for the participants who will be getting my time. It won’t be easy, but it will be worth it!!!

You will have a daily participation requirement for the full 8 weeks. This means you will need to be able to access Facebook DAILY. I want to be very clear that because this group is completely free, you get no second chances. There will be an assignment every day that you will participate in, such as a simple question that the whole group will comment on, or a requirement to post a picture of your lunch, or listing your MyFitnessPal food log for the day.

Of course, for this level of commitment and dedication, I am going to completely spoil you with support, motivation, accountability, education and AH-MAZING prizes!!! Exclusive recipes, meal plans and shopping lists, and personal coaching just for YOU. This hands on, step-by- step, instruction will give you skills that will allow you to make permanent changes and healthy habits in your life. You WILL change your eating habits and learn more than you ever could have imagined. Below you will find what you will receive and what would be required and expected of you to join us.

Clearly it’s going to be challenging and to make a bit more work I’m going to blog my experience as I go. I can’t promise that every blog will be worth reading but I’d love for you to join me on this journey to #clean

A little disclaimer: I am going to endeavour to blog my whole experience, which means that there will 56 posts directly related to the challenge, as well as some days where I’ll be blogging my other random blogs.

I have tried to run the challenge blog posts as a sub-blog but unfortunately I’m not able to do that. I know you may not all be interested in the clean eating challenge but I hope you will stick around regardless!

Incidental exercise is one of the best ways to burn calories or tone up without even trying!

A fantastic core strengthening exercise that you can add to your incidental regime is when you brush your teeth.

Choose a leg for mornings and the other for at night. Set the timer for two minutes (how long you should be brushing your teeth for) and stand on one foot while you brush.

Instant core workout and a healthy mouth too!

Another great form of incidental exercise is to park your car away from your destination, even if it’s just on the other side of the supermarket car park, it all adds up, especially if you go to the supermarket as often as I do!

We all know this one, but how many of us actually do it? Take the stairs, not the lift? My office is upstairs from the main office at the race course and I am up and down the stairs at least half a dozen times a day, not counting if I am checking on a lounge, showing a bride around, etc. This place is big, I get a lot of incidental exercise just doing my job. Race days even more! 6-8 hours of nearly non-stop walking, I need to get a pedometer to see how far I actually do walk!

Some other things I do around the house is hang the washing out, one item at a time – washing machine to clothes line, then back to washing machine, back to clothes line. It doesn’t take that much longer and it feels good. Also when I’m ironing I hang each item up when it’s ironed. Lounge to bedroom, back to lounge, back to bedroom. Again, doesn’t take that much longer and I feel even more satisfied at the end of the pile!